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NLJ this week: How much can we rely on a witness’s memory?

07 March 2025
Issue: 8107 / Categories: Legal News , Procedure & practice , Dispute resolution
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Memory is fallible, so how should litigation lawyers be aware of this when preparing witness statements? Mary Young, partner, and Laurence Clarke, senior associate, in the dispute resolution team at Kingsley Napley, discuss the unreliability of memory and court procedure rules introduced nearly four years ago on record-keeping and preparation of witness statements.

One problem, as they explain, is that ‘through the process of remembering or recalling events, an individual can change or edit their own recollection’.

Young and Clarke write: ‘The difficulty for a judge is that they may be faced with two witnesses who give different accounts of the same events, while at the same time both being entirely honest and fully believing that the evidence they give is accurate.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
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